Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the mass slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus by members of the Hutu majority government of Rwanda from 7 April to 15 July 1994, which left 800,000 Tutsis (70% of the Tutsi population) dead. The genocide occurred during the Rwandan Civil War, and the genocide began the day after President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down; the death of the Hutu president was blamed on the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels, leading to the Hutu extremist Interahamwe militia embarking on a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the country. The Interahamwe were infamous for their use of machetes to butcher the Tutsis, and the soldiers and police under General Augustin Bizimungu secretly supported the militia, later openly supporting them. The United Nations peacekeepers in the country evacuated the European and Western civilians from the country, but they were powerless to stop the genocide, as they did not want to start a war with the Rwandan government. The Hutus raped, maimed, and killed the Tutsis, leading to the spread of the HIV virus in the country. The genocide came to an end when RPF guerrillas took over the country in mid-July 1994, and 2,000,000 Hutus became refugees, fleeing Rwanda as the Tutsis took over.